Eight candidates for a highly desirable corporate job are locked together in an exam room and given a final test with just one question. It seems simple yet confusing that soon, tensions begin to unravel.

Publicist Stuart Shepard finds himself trapped in a phone booth, pinned down by an extortionist's sniper rifle. Unable to leave or receive outside help, Stuart's negotiation with the caller leads to a jaw-dropping climax.

Storyline

Six different people, each from a very different walk of life, awaken to find themselves inside a giant cube with thousands of possible rooms. Each has a skill that becomes clear when they must band together to get out: a cop, a math whiz, a building designer, a doctor, an escape master, and a disabled man. Each plays a part in their thrilling quest to find answers as to why they've been imprisoned.Written by
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Technical Specs

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Did You Know?

Trivia

The set contained just one cube, changed to different colours by means of gel panels. Since it was a time-consuming process to change from one to another, the film was not shot in sequence, rather colour-by-colour. The red gels were the first to be installed, meaning all scenes in red rooms were shot first. As it happens, red rooms contain the most dialog-heavy scenes in the film, including Worth's big "there is no conspiracy" speech to Holloway. The film had a modest budget and a tight schedule, and David Hewlett recalled being very apprehensive at shooting scenes that contained pages of pure dialog on his part very early in the shoot. He also felt that Worth's line "Well I feel better" after his rant to Holloway rang immensely true on a personal level, as the remainder of the shoot was much less dependent on his memorisation. See more »

Goofs

After you enter a new room, the chamber doors automatically spin their handles and close shut. There is a scene near the end where Quentin closes a chamber door himself while another character is talking. The director admits in the commentary that this is because that particular shot was done earlier in the filming before he decided they would close automatically. See more »

Quotes

Rennes:
No more talking. No more guessing. Don't even think about nothing that's not right in front of you. That's the real challenge. You've gotta save yourselves from yourselves.
See more »

User Reviews

Quentin wakes up in a square room with exits on each wall. Soon he is joined by other people, strangers, who also have no idea where they are. Looking around they find that each room leads to another one that looks just the same. One of the group is the famous prison escape artist Rennes, who realises that some of the rooms are booby-trapped but that he thinks he has got the solution. With no other ideas the group follow him and try to evade the traps and stay alive  all the time with absolutely no idea of why they are here or who has imprisoned them.

I heard about this film years ago but only recently managed to find it on television to watch. It is hard to think that it is almost a decade old now but that it is still effective and a regular cult movie that people will still talk about. Its power is in its simplicity  every room is the same and every next room could be safe or could be a trap; there is no reason for any of it and there appears to be no way out. Usually this sort of stuff makes for a great pitch but not always a good movie because the idea can't stretch beyond a catchy gimmick, however here it does it and makes it look easy. The whole film is our characters trying to work their way through the rooms without getting horribly killed. This in itself is gripping and at times unbearable to watch  horror fans may be disappointed that long periods go by without a lot of gore but personally I prefer tension to the delivery.

At the same time we also get the characters feeding the mystery of the cube, building the tension and the sense of hopelessness without ever really solving anything. It answers questions with more questions and keeps things moving well. The development of the characters is better than I expected and I liked the way that the film played with the characters, changing them as the film went along. It isn't a fantastic character piece but again it is just something that helps keep the film moving and I suppose it was interesting to see the nature of people come out. In that regard I was also impressed by the cast. I had expected poor performances from a low budget film but actually they were all quite good. Wint is best but towards the end his performance became a bit too simplistic. Hewlett underplays and probably has the least character to deal with but is still good. De Boer was effective and interesting. Robson was a nice distraction. Guadagni was a good counterweight for Wint and played well to develop him and herself at the same time. Miller was good and the pace of the film helped distract from him basically doing a Rain Man impression.

Overall an impressive low budget thriller that works because it sticks to the simple idea while building side issues with the characters and the cube around it but never actually solving anything. Perhaps it is better not to over praise it because I thought it was at its best because I didn't know what was going to happen.

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